The Association's Library Can Now Be Searched Online
The association's library is now an online catalogue: 1,244 titles on Kaiserswerth, Düsseldorf and the Rhineland, free to search without registration.
The Association
Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth, founded 1949: runs the Museum Kaiserswerth, organises exhibitions, talks, excursions, cares for a biotope.
Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth
Local heritage and community
The Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V. (Kaiserswerth Local History and Citizens' Association), HBV for short, stands for civic engagement and cultural heritage. Since it was founded in 1949, the association has worked tirelessly to care for and promote the district of Kaiserswerth and its residents.
A wide range of events and activities
The HBV is active in a broad range of fields. The association runs the Museum Kaiserswerth, which offers an in-depth insight into the history of Kaiserswerth. Exhibitions, talks, excursions and readings give members and anyone interested plenty of opportunities to enrich themselves culturally and broaden their knowledge. In addition, the association takes on a special responsibility by looking after a nature biotope, making an important ecological contribution.
Voluntary commitment
All of the HBV's activities are planned and carried out exclusively by volunteers. This voluntary commitment is the heart of the association and makes it possible to put on the wide range of events and activities. Without the tireless work and enthusiasm of its volunteers, the association's success would be unthinkable.
Meeting and exchange
The HBV is a lively meeting place for people who want to play an active part in their community. Members meet regularly at exhibition openings, vernissages and finissages to celebrate art and culture together. Talks, guided tours and excursions offer further opportunities to meet and exchange ideas. Many of the members belong to the 50-plus generation.
Umbrella organisation
The HBV is a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Düsseldorfer Heimat- und Bürgervereine e. V. (Association of Düsseldorf Local History and Citizens' Associations, agd-duesseldorf.de (opens new page)), which gives it strong links and cooperation with other local associations. This strengthens the HBV's position and widens the scope for joint projects and initiatives.
Membership and donations
The association warmly invites everyone who is interested! Visit exhibitions, take part in events or become active in the HBV.
Experience community, culture and nature conservation in Kaiserswerth – become part of the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V.!
Memberships and donations are very welcome and make a substantial contribution to continuing and expanding the association's wide range of activities.
Join in!
The Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V. is living proof of how important civic engagement is for the cultural and social life of a district.
The association thrives on the commitment of its members and warmly invites everyone interested to take part, whether actively or passively. Your commitment and support are the key to a continued lively and inspiring association life.
The association is denominationally and politically neutral.
Statutes (PDF, in German) (3.3 MB)
Board
- Chair: Kerstin Döhler
- Deputy Chair: Ursula Lösch
- Deputy Chair: Gérard Just
- Secretary: Anne-Rose Geißler
- Treasurer: Horst-Dietrich Richard Raue
As elected at the Annual General Meeting on 28 September 2023.
The board of the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth (from left): Horst-Dietrich Richard Raue (Treasurer), Anne-Rose Geißler (Secretary), Kerstin Döhler (Chair), Ursula Lösch (Deputy Chair), Gérard Just (Deputy Chair). Photo: ah
Members
The Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth has around 250 members.
Many of our members belong to the 50-plus generation. With their energy and enthusiasm, they contribute to a lively and inspiring association life.
Members meet regularly. Exhibition openings, vernissages and finissages are celebrated together. Talks, guided tours and excursions offer further opportunities to meet and exchange ideas.
Visit exhibitions and take part in other events, too.
The association is carried by the commitment of its members. Become active in the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V. and get involved in the association.
Memberships, active or passive, as well as donations are very welcome.
Support the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth too!
Membership and donations
Become a member of the association!
The annual membership fee is:
- €30 for individual members
- €40 for families with children under 18
- €10 for adults in vocational training
- free of charge for under-18s
Members joining after 30 June pay half the annual fee for their first year of membership.
Members joining after 31 October pay no fee for their first year of membership.
Please fill in the membership application and send it to:
Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V.
Fliednerstraße 32
40489 Düsseldorf
The annual fee can be paid by bank transfer or collected by direct debit. If you would like to use direct debit, please submit the direct debit authorisation on the membership fee invoice. With the declaration of consent, members and non-members can receive the association's information by e-mail.
Membership application (PDF, in German) (122 KB)Membership fee invoice with direct debit authorisation (PDF, in German) (138 KB)Declaration of consent: association information by e-mail (PDF, in German) (120 KB)
Forms as of October 2026. Alternatively, we can send you the membership application by post; please request it by e-mail or via the contact page.
Support the association!
Donations to the association are very welcome!
Please pay donations into our membership and donation account:
- IBAN: DE97 3206 0362 2416 2150 09
- BIC: GENODED1HTK
For donations of €100 or more, we issue donors with an official donation receipt (Zuwendungsbestätigung).
For all other donations, the bank transfer slip is sufficient as proof of tax deductibility.
Thank you very much!
History of the association
The double-headed eagle has been the main element of the Kaiserswerth coat of arms since the 13th century.
The history of the association in brief
1949: the association "Heimatfreunde Kaiserswerth e. V."
When it was incorporated into Düsseldorf in 1929, Kaiserswerth, which had been an independent town for almost 800 years, lost its own political representation through which the citizens could voice their ideas and wishes and press them with the administration.
After the end of the Nazi dictatorship in 1945 and with the building of a democratic state in 1949, the Kaiserswerth poet and dramatist Herbert Eulenberg (1876 – 1949) initiated the founding of the association "Heimatfreunde Kaiserswerth e. V." (Friends of Kaiserswerth). Hans Tussing became chair, Dr. Hans Stöcker deputy chair. Besides taking part in municipal institutions and matters such as the designation of building areas, protection of historic monuments, road building, car parks, the route of the B8 east of Kaiserswerth, airport expansion and so on, cultural activities and tasks were given particular emphasis.
Efforts to improve the appearance of the town led, among other things, to busts of five well-known Kaiserswerth figures in the town park, the replacement of the drumming Hitler Youth boy on the fountain at Klemensplatz by the drinking boy, the customs officer at the customs house, the Spee epitaph at the basilica and the towing relief.
1960: the association "Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V."
The association was renamed "Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth e. V." in 1960. It became a member of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Düsseldorfer Heimat- und Bürgervereine.
With the municipal reorganisation of 1 January 1975, Kaiserswerth moved from the edge of the city to the centre of Borough 5 through the incorporation of Wittlaer and Angermund. A district council (19 members) and a district head (today district mayor) did create political representation for the borough, but a body to safeguard Kaiserswerth's particular concerns remained sensible and necessary, both because of increasing numbers of new residents moving into denser development and new building areas, and because of the growing number of members in the association.
1984: the Museum Kaiserswerth is founded
In 1984, Hannes Esser's idea of setting up a museum at Kaiserswerther Markt was realised. Its foundation, and still its centrepiece today, is a historical town model (before 1702) on a scale of 1:20 in fired clay that he created. In 1991, the museum was able to move into the school building at Fliednerstraße 32, where spacious rooms are available for exhibitions, the association and the archive.
1985: new natural monument "Spee-Biotop"
The chairman Gregor Menges (chair 1974 – 1991) prevented the filling-in of a gravel pit on Kittelbachstraße, which was transformed into a valuable refuge for endangered amphibians – a replacement, so to speak, for the sandbanks that had disappeared from the regulated Rhine. These efforts were recognised in 1984 with the environmental prize of the City of Düsseldorf. The association has taken on the sponsorship of this biotope (natural monument "Spee-Biotop").
2003: Kaiserswerth development plan
The association's "Arbeitskreis Stadtbildpflege" (working group on townscape conservation) contributed to the "Entwicklungskonzept Kaiserswerth" (Kaiserswerth development plan) from 2003 onwards. It was implemented by the mid-2010s. A key part was the restoration of the Suitbertus bastion below the Klemensbrücke and the redesign of the west side of Klemensplatz.
2012: "Kaisergärtchen" at "Am Hohen Wall"
On an overgrown plot "Am Hohen Wall" in the historic centre of Kaiserswerth, the association created the "Kaisergärtchen" (Little Imperial Garden) in 2012 and has looked after the plot ever since.
The coronavirus pandemic and the sudden deaths in 2020 of the association's chairman, Wilhelm Mayer, and his acting deputy, Armin Mahn, affected the work of the association.
2021: a fresh start after the coronavirus pandemic
Over the decades, the association has been active in publishing writings on local history and heritage, and in organising exhibitions, talks, readings, study trips and various events such as town, heritage, folk-custom and anniversary festivals, nature walks, guided town tours, the "Dreck-weg-Tag" (clean-up day), the citizens' market and more.
After the coronavirus pandemic, the current board team made a fresh start with several well-attended art exhibitions and other events.
Association life
75 Years of the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth
Founded on 21 March 1949, the Kaiserswerth local history association runs Museum Kaiserswerth, holds exhibitions and talks and looks after a biotope.
2023 Newsletters of the Heimat- und Bürgerverein Kaiserswerth
The Kaiserswerth local history association regularly sends newsletters to members and anyone interested. All 18 newsletters from 2023 as PDFs (in German).
The History of the Association & „Zwei Engel in Kaiserswerth“ (Two Angels in Kaiserswerth)
Two articles by Heinrich Sövegjarto: the history of the Kaiserswerth local history association since 1949 and the story of the two angels it sheltered.
Volunteers Wanted for Museum Supervision and Setting Up Exhibitions
Museum Kaiserswerth is looking for volunteers to welcome visitors as museum attendants and to help set up its temporary exhibitions.
Picture from Exhibition Donated to Montessori Grundschule Farnweg
On 13 June 2023, a fern painting from the Claudia Lessnau-Eick exhibition at Museum Kaiserswerth was handed over to the Montessori Grundschule Farnweg.